Self-sharpening safety razor



J. B. BRocKHuRs-' y SELFSHRPENING SAFETY RAZOR May 19, 1942.

Filed Nov. 2. 1939 lNvENToR ./l'/EJ E 5Min/0R47 Z- ATTORNEY EELS.

Patented May 19,' 1942 Application November 2, 1939,l Serial No. 302,581

18 Claims.

The present invention relates to safety razor blades and the sharpening thereof, and more particularly-to self-sharpening safety razors and blades therefor.

An important object -of the invention is to provide for improved sharpening of safety razor blades. Another important objectV of the invention is to provide a new and advantageous safety razor including in its assembly, means for sharpening a blade therein without disassembling the razor. Another object is to provide a safety razor containing sharpening means and constructed so that upon releasing certain parts, sharpening of the blade may be effected by relative movement between the blade and the sharpening means. A further object is to provide a new and advantageous safety razor blade particularly adapted for use with the safety razor of the present invention.

One feature of the invention, as applied to a safety razor of the type comprising a cap and a guard between which the blade is located, resides in the provision of sharpening surfaces at the inner side of the cap and more particularly at the longitudinal edges of said inner surface.

Such sharpening surfaces may be obtained by providing suitable sharpening or abrasive material at the inner side`of a cap or by providing a cap made entirely of the sharpening material,

which may be glass, corundum, or any other suitable material.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision in the razor of means for controlling the position and movement of the blade whereby when the parts are unclamped the blade may be moved transversely and at the same time will be maintained parallel to its operative position so that its edges will be sharpened by said sharpening material.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of means for moving said blade backand forth across said sharpening surfaces under guidance of said controlling means which cause the blade to be maintained parallel to its operative position.

A further feature of the invention relates to the provision of a razor blade adapted to cooperate with the novel features of the improved safety razorvfor use therewit Other objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration of the following detailed description and of the drawing in which:

Fig. l is a section taken through the axis of the handle and longitudinally of the head of a safety razor embodying one form ofthe razor of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a section through the axis of the handle and perpendicular to the section shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 2A is a fragmentary transverse section of the razor blade showing the teeth at the razor edge turned to one side of the main place of the blade.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the head of the razor with the blade shifted to one extreme position;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 but showing the blade shifted to one extreme position;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the blade support or carrier;

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a top plan view of the guard of the razor; y

Fig. 8 is a bottom view of the guard of Fig. '7;

Fig. 9 is a view of a blade for use in -carrying out the invention, said view including a magnified showing of some of the teeth in a circle along the upper edge of the blade; and

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the cap of the razor.

In the drawing there is illustrated a safety razor comprising a handle I0, a head or guard I I at one end of said handle I0, a blade actuator or blade support I2, slidable transversely of said guard and a cap I3 between which and said blade actuator I2 may be clamped a blade I4 having at its edge minute teeth including teeth MA, IAB and MC. It should be understood that the teeth at the edge of the blade are such as are seen on any razor edge by suitable magnification except the blade support of that, as illustrated in Fig. 2A, they are bent to one side of the blade. The blade support I2 may be guided with respect to the guard II in any suitable manner, as for example by lugs I5 projecting downwardly from the corners of the blade support or carrier I2 and engaging the outer ends of the guard II. lTo hold the blade I4 against both transverse and longitudinal movement on the blade support or actuator I2, the latter may be provided with two aligned longitudinal ribs I6 which fit in corresponding slots II of the blade Iii.

The cap I3 may be provided with a usual stem Y I8 to pass downwardly through a transverse slot I9 of the blade I4, a corresponding transverse slot 20 in the blade support I2 and an opening 2l in the guard II. In this form of razor the cap I3 is held against rotation with respect to the guard II by any suitable means, such as lugs 22 extending from the central parts of the ends of the cap downwardly into recesses 23 centrally located in the ends of the guard II. When the razor is assembled. the stem I8 of the cap I3 passes through a reduced portion of the hollow body 24 of the handle I0 and projects into a portion of larger diameter where its threaded end may be engaged by an internal screw thread of a tube 25 fitting in the main portion of the handle body 24. At its outer end the tubular member 25 may be provided with an .enlarged portion constituting a button or finger piece 26 which may be turned in one direction to clamp the parts firmly together and in the other direction to release them, At. its inner end the button 26 engages the outer end of the hollow body 24 and the inner end of the tube 25 extends substantially to an internal shoulder between the main part i the handle body 24 and the reduced portion thereof.

For the purpose of shifting the blade actuator I2, the handle may also be provided with a rotatable iinger piece 21 in the form of a tubular member fitting over the reduced portion of the body 24 and having an enlarged portion extend-V ing over part of the main portion of the body 24. The reduced portion of the body 24 containing the stem I8 is further reduced at its end to t into the opening 2| of the head or guard II and the handle body 24 and the guard II are rigidly secured together, the arrangement being such that the iinger piece has a limited sliding movement between the shoulder formed at the junction of the larger and small portions of the tube 24 and the guard II.

Operating connection between the rotatable nger piece 21 and the blade support I2 may be effected by means of a blade shifting pin 28 projecting upwardly from the member 21 through an arcuate slot 28 in the guard II and into an opening 30 in the blade carrier I2, this opening 30 being of just sufficient width across the support I2 to receive the pin 28 and being of suincient length longitudinally of the support I2 to allow for the swinging of the pin 28 about the axis of the handle. In order to provide for greater freedom of movement of the member 21 and the pin 28, the slots I1 may be extended towards the slot I9 su'iciently to receive the pin 28 when it is in central position, that is along the middle longitudinal line of the guard II and blade support I2. The blade actuator should be accurately positioned and locked in central position over the guard II when the razor is in use.

To this end the member 21 which is rotatable on the handle body 24 and also slidable longitudinally thereof, is provided with a positioning pin 3I preferably diametrically opposite the blade shifting pin 28, this pin 3I being somewhat tapered and arranged to enter a correspondingly shaped opening 32 in the guard 3I. When the pin 3| is in the opening 32 the blade actuator will be accurately located in its central position. The pin 3I is short enough so that finger piece 21 can be retracted sufficiently to withdraw the pin 3| from the opening 32 without withdrawing the operating pin 28 from the blade actuator I2 although it may be withdrawn from the slot I1 of the blade I4 into which it projected while the razor was in condition for use.

After the member 21 has been retracted to release the pin 3I, and the button 26 has been turned to relieve the clamping action on the blade I4, the finger piece 21 may be turned rst in one direction and then in the other to move the blade carrier I2 back and forth and as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, bring the cutting edges of the blade I4 on the blade support I2 into engagement with sharpening surfaces which may be on members 33 located in or constituting the inner or lower face of the cap I3.

These sharpening members 33 may be of any suitable material such as glass, varieties of corundum or compositions of the two materials and may be highly polished, as described heretofore. The corundum may be ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, amethyst or emery or common glass and compositions of glass and corundum may be colored red, blue, green, yellow, violet or grey in imitation of the genuine mineral.

In most safety razors, the blade is slightly longer than the head and that is true for blades such as are used in the present razor. Consequently it is necessary to provide the ends of each razor blade I4 with transverse slots 34 to receive the lugs 22 projecting downwardly from the cap I3 whereby a shifting blade may be guided by said lugs as well as held against longitudinal movement with respect to the cap and the guard. In fact the blade may be so accurately guided by suitably shaped lugs 32 as to render the blade support II unnecessary. By making the said slots 34 of the proper length with respect to the width of the lugs 22 the shifting range of the blade may be predetermined. To draw the skin tight in advance of the blade during the shaving operation so as to present the hair filaments substantially perpendicular to the surface of the skin, the edge portions of the guard may be roughened as by scoring the surface adjacent the edge, for example by lines of scoring so located as to divide the surface into a plurality of diamond-shaped projections.

The various parts of the razor may be assembled in the following manner. The handle member 24, the nger piece 21, and the guard II are assembled to form one unit. Then the blade support I2 is placed on the guard with finger 28 in proper position, and lugs I5 are turned around edges of the guard. The nger piece 21 may be rotated to the position for positioning pin 3I to enter opening 32, and may then be shifted longitudinally to insert pin 3| in opening 32, thus centering blade support I2. A blade I4 may then be placed on the blade carrier I2 so that the longitudinal slots I1 receive the ribs I 6 which, while lling the outer ends of the slots, leave spaces at the inner ends of the slots open to receive the pin 28. 'I'he cap I3 may then be applied so that the lugs 22 enter the slots 34, and the stern I8 enters the reduced portion of tubular member 24 far enough for the threaded end of the stem to enterthe end of tube 25 which may be inserted at any suitable time. The button or nger piece 26 is then turned to act throug the threaded stem I8 to draw the cap I3 and guard II together and thereby clamp all the parts in position. The razor is then ready for use in shaving.

Ordinarily when the blade I4 is new and is in at or unflexed condition, the teeth at a cutting edge lie substantially in the plane of the blade y as a whole. When this blade is clamped between the blade support. and the cap it will be warped in its central longitudinal part in accordance with the tightness of the clamping but will remain flat in narrow sections near the cutting edges. Then in shaving with the guard and cap in proper contact with the face, the edge portion of the blade will not be perpendicular to the hairs at their bases but will point downwardly toward the skin. The pressure against said iine teeth will then be against the sides thereof and will tend to bend them out of the planes of said edge portions and thus dull the cutting edge. During the shaving there will occur some clogging of the razor due more or less t'o collection of soap and particles of hair between the blade and the guard. y

Either when the shaving is completed or when it is desired for other reasons, the clamping pressure may be reduced to a sufficient extent, and

the rotatable finger piece 21, after withdrawal of the positioning pin 3| from opening 32, may be turned to shift-the razor blade support transversely of the guard. This movement of the blade support will, particularly in connection with use of a stream of water, loosen and dislodge material collected under the edge portions of the blade.

Successive rotational movements of finger piece 2l in opposite directions will also rub the edges of such blades against the sharpening or rubbing faces of members 33. Such faces may be concave or plane and by varying the exlng of the blade to lbe sharpened the positions of the edge portions of the blade may be adjusted to cooperate with the sharpening members as desired. The exing or warping does not extend to the edge of the blade but determines the inclination of the straight or plane edge portions of the blade with reference to the surfaces of the sharpening members. When the blade to be sharpened is shifted to bring the normally straight or unflexed edge portion within the limits of the clamp, thus warping such' edge portion, the top face of each cutting edge may be pressed convex against the concave face of a sharpening member and may conform closely thereto. It will further be noted that the arc of curvature of this top face may be adjusted by tightening sented more nearly perpendicular to the hair to' be cut, will more effectively resist displacement in the opposite direction during shaving, whereby the cutting edge is made more resistant to displacement and injury and therefore more durable.

The interior bridges or hinges which together with end bridges or hinges hold the edge portions of the blade together. assist in pressing the blade uniformly against a sharpening face during the sharpening operation arid, both in sharpening and shaving operations, provide straighter edges than will be provided by blades in which the edge portions are connected by end hinges only. The shiftability of the blade carrier for blade-sharpening action may be utilized for 'otherpurposea for example, due to Variation in width of blade.

one or both cutting edges are over-ground or under-ground and the width or the dimension from edge to edge is reduced or increased beyond the proper size, as the case may be. When a blade of improper size in this respect is placed centrally in a safety razor, at least one edge will fail to occupy its proper position with respect `It frequently happens that, in grinding blades,

to the guard and the shaving operation with this edge of the blade -will be unsatisfactory. It may also be desirable under certain conditions to retract a razor blade edge with reference to the guard, for example with a proper size of blade in order to safeguard tender skin where the hair is wlry or with a blade having an edge that projects too far.

Such adjustments of the position of a razor edge may be effected in the razor of the present invention. The tapered positioning pin of the device for shifting the blade carrier is normally inserted all the way into the corresponding open` ing in the guard and accurately centers the blade support or carrier. The parts are also clamped together for use. However, slight adjustments of the blade may easily be effected by releasing the clamp, withdrawing the tapered pin part way from the opening to permit sidewise movement of the positioning pin. The blade support may then be shifted within very narrow limits to bring the cutting edge of the blade into the desired position and the parts clamped together.

Each cutting edge of a safety razor blade is composed of a substantially infinite number of minute irregularly shaped teeth which normally lie substantially in the plane of the blade when the cutting edge is sharp but are forced out of that vplane by engagement with hair during the n shaving operation and the cutting edge is dulled. Such displacement is due largely to the fact that, when the bladel is held in warped position between two-clamping members, a cutting edge is presented obliquely to the horny surface of each hair filament when the razor is pressed against the face in proper position'during shaving, and the minute teeth of the cutting edge are more readily forced out of the plane of the straight edge-portion of the blade and with much less pressure than would be the case if the teeth engaged the hair filaments in a direction perpendicular to the latter. In sharpening a blade in the razor of the present invention, the bent teeth may be pressed back into their original positions in the planes of the adjacent edge portions of the blade, thus reconditioning the blade to make it. the same as before `or pressing the old teeth uniformly beyond the planes of the adjacent edge portions of the'blade so that the teeth may be presented at a more perpendicular angle to the hair filaments than usual. The extent of the bending back of the teeth during the sharpening action may be determined by adjustment of the clamping pressure. In this way a keener and more durable cutting edge is procured. Obviously, the razor blade thus proinitial rub on either cutting edge of a double edge blade is always in a direction away from the center of the blade and the teeth are thus positioned in the proper direction to insure a sharp cutting edge by this stropping operation. But when the blade is shifted in the opposite direction, the rub is toward the center of the blade and similar to the usual honing operation oi' a common razor edge, so that the blade is sharpened by alternate stropping and honing operations.

A mild abrader such as jewelers rouge may be used in conjunction with the honing operation when it is desired to form new teeth on the cutting edges of old blades to replace teeth that have been destroyed, and a lubricant such as lather of shaving soap made of palm and olive oil may be used in conjunction with the stropping operation whereby the irregularly shaped minute teeth may be more quickly abraded to a more uniformly minimum size than would be the case when the said teeth are dry stropped and honed and a velvet cutting edge thus quickly assured.

It should be understood that various features may be changed and that certain features may be used without others, without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A safety razor comprising a head, a blade actuator transversely movable on said head, means for guiding said blade actuator transversely of said guard, a exible blade connected to said blade actuator to move therewith, a cap over said blade, means for preventing relative rotation of said cap and head, sharpening surfaces on said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely, a handle at the rear of said head, and a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts and releasing them.

2. A safety razor comprising a head, a blade actuator transversely movable on said head, a flexible blade connected to said blade actuator to move therewith, a cap over said blade, sharpening means carried by said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely, a handle at the rear of said head, a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together and releasing them, and means for preventing relative rotation of said head, cap and blade actuator about the axis of said handle.

3. A safety razor comprising a guard, a blade support transversely movable on said guard, a flexible blade connected to said blade support to move therewith, a cap over said blade,` said cap being of less width than said blade, means for preventing relative rotation between said cap and said guard, sharpening means on said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely of the guard, a handle at the rear of said guard, a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together and for releasing them, and means including a finger-piece carried by the handle for shifting said blade support. i o

4. A safety razor comprising a guard, a blade support transversely movable on said guard, a flexible blade connected to said support to move therewith, a cap over said blade, said cap being of less width than said blade, means for preventing relative rotation between said ap and said guard, sharpening means on said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely, a handle at the rear of said guard, a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together and for releasing them, and means including a finger-piece in the form of a sleeve rotatable on said handle for shifting said blade support.

5. A safety razor comprising a guard having an arcuate slot extending across its longitudinal axis, a blade support transversely movable on said guard and having a longitudinal slot extending across said arcuate slot, a flexible blade connected to said supportto move therewith, a cap over said blade, said cap being of less Width than said blade, means for preventing relative rotation between said cap and said guard, sharpening means on said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely, a handle at the rear of said guard, a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together and-for releasing them, and means for operating said blade support for sharpening purposes including a fingerpiece rotatable around the axis of said handle and a pin projecting' from said finger-piece through said arcuate slot in the guard and into said longitudinal slot in the blade support.

6. A safety razor comprising a head, a blade actuator transversely movable on said head, a flexible blade connected to said blade actuator to move therewith, a cap over said blade, said cap being of less width than said blade, means for preventing relative rotation between said cap and said head, sharpening means on said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade When the latter is moved transversely, a handle at the rear of said head, a manually controlled connection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together and for releasing them, blade-actuator shifting means including an operating finger-piece rotatable on said handle, and means for positioning said fingerpiece to center said blade in position for shaving.

7. A safety razor comprising a guard, a handle fixed at one end to said guard at the center thereof, a blade support slidably attached to said guard, a cap above said blade support, means for preventing relative displacement between said cap and said guard transversely of said handle but permitting such movement longitudinally of said handle and movement of the blade support transversely of said guard, sharpening means at the inner face of said cap near its edges in position to sharpen the edges of a blade on said blade support when the support is moved transversely, and means for shifting s'aid cap toward and from said guard to clamp the parts together for shaving and to release the parts.

8. A safety razor comprising a guard with a circular opening through its center and recesses in its ends, a tubular handle fixed at an open end to said guard at said opening, a blade carrier slidable transversely on said guard, lugs adjacent the corners of said blade carrier and extending downwardly from said blade carrier along the ends of said guard and around to the underside thereof to guide the carrier in its movement, said blade carrier having a central transverse slot and at its upper face central longitudinal ribs between the transverse slot and the ends of the blade carrier, a blade having a transverse slot at its middle and longitudinal slots at opposite sides thereof to receive said ribs, and a cap having a central stem passing through the central transverse slots of the blade and blade carrier and into the end of said handle, said blade also said transverse slots in the ends of the blade and I into said recesses in the ends of the guard, and means carried by said handle to cooperate with the stem of said cap and draw the cap toward the guard to lock the intermediate parts in posi-- tion.

. 9. A safety razor comprising a handle, a guard to the center of which one end of the handle is secured, a cap having a stem passing through said guard and into said handle, a blade between said cap and guard having a central transverse slot to receive said stem whilepermitting trans-- verse movement of said blade, means for shifting said blade transversely to sharpen its edges and to displace material accumulated between the blade and the guard, and means `for drawing said stem into the handle and clamping the blade in any position assumed thereby.

10. A safety razor comprising a handle, a guard to the center of which one end of the handle is secured, a cap having a stem passing through said guard and into said handle, a blade between said cap and guard having a central transverse slot to receive said stem while permitting transverse movement of said blade, means for effecting a fine adjustment of a cutting edge to avoid too great advance or retraction due to variation in the width of blades, and means for clamping the blade in adjusted position.

11. A safety razor comprising an elongated cap having a concave inner face against which a flexible blade may be fixed, said cap having at its inner face sharpening means against which the cutting edges of a blade may be rubbed and sharpened, a blade support movable transversely of said cap to shift a blade for such sharpening, and means for pressing the blade support toward said cap either to clamp the carrier against such transverse movement or to flex the blade so as to obtain the desired direction of engagement between the blade edge and the sharpening means.

12. A flexible blade for a safety razor having at its cutting edges minute teeth bent back from the plane of the adjacent portion of the blade to engage hair perpendicularly while the blade is inclined to the surface of the skin where shaving is taking place.

13. A safety razor comprising a guard, a narrower blade support transversely movable on said guard, a flexible blade of greater width than said support mounted thereon, a cap over said blade, said cap being of greater width than said support and of less width than said blade, means for preventing relative rotation between said cap and said guard, sharpening means carried by said cap at the edges of its inner face for engagement by the edges of said blade when the latter is moved transversely of the guard, a handle at the rear of said guard, a manually controlled conthe blade, and a transverse slot in each end pornection between said cap and said handle for clamping the parts together or releasing them to permit operation of the blade support, means for operating said blade support for sharpening purposes around the axis of said handle and slidable theref along and a pin projecting from said lingerpiece through an arcuate slot in the guard and into a longitudinal slot in the blade support, and means for centering said blade support including a tapered pin projecting upwardly from said linger-piece and adapted to t tightly in a corresponding hole in said guard.

14. A safety razor blade having a central transverse guiding slot between end portions of tion.

15. A safety razor comprising a blade, a guard, a cap between which and said guard said blade is movable transversely,'sharpenng means to be engaged by the cutting edges of the blade as the latter is moved transversely, and clamping means to shift the guard and cap toward and from each other to regulate the pressure between the sharpening means and the blade.

16. A safety razor comprising a blade, a guard having. a central recess at each end, a cap between which and said guard said blade is movable transversely, a lug extending downwardly from the central part of each end of the cap into the corresponding recess in said guard to prevent relative rotation of the cap and guard,

' sharpening means to be engaged by the cutting edges of the blade as the latter is moved transversely, and clamping means to draw the guard and cap toward each other and to regulate the pressure between the sharpening means and the blade, said blade having at each end a. transverse slotl to receive the corresponding lug on the cap.

17. A safety razor comprising a blade, a guard, a cap between which and said guard said blade is movable, means including two lugs extending downwardly from the cap to prevent relative rotation between the cap and the guard, said lugs being spaced from the center of said cap at opposite sides thereof lengthwise 0f said cap, sharpening means to be engaged by the cutting edges of the blade as the latter is moved transversely, and clamping means to draw theguard and cap together and regulate the pressure on the blade, said blade having transverse slots to receive said lugs and cooperate therewith to guide the blade in reciprocating movement to prevent rotational movement thereof with respect to the cap.

18. A safety razor blade having a central transverse guiding slot, a transverse guiding slot at each end, and a central longitudinal actuating and holding slot between each of the end guiding slots and the central transverse slot.'

JAMES B. BROCKHURST.

including a finger-piece rotatable 

